UK High Court overturns conviction for Twitter joke

Defendant tweeted about blowing up airport if not reopened in time for flight.

Paul Chambers, the man who was found guilty of sending a menacing tweet in 2010, has won his High Court appeal against conviction, and has been acquitted of the crime.

Back In January 2010, Chambers joked that he would blow up Robin Hood Airport in South Yorkshire airport if it was not reopened in time for him to travel to Northern Ireland to see a friend.

"Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed," his infamous tweet read. "You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I am blowing the airport sky high!"

A week later, he was arrested by anti-terror police for making a bomb threat. In May 2010, the Doncaster magistrates court found him guilty "of sending, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message of a menacing character." He was fined and lost his job.

After a lengthy appeal process, Chambers has finally been acquitted. In the judgement document, the high court said, "the appeal against conviction will be allowed on the basis that this tweet did not constitute or include a message of a menacing character; we cannot usefully take this aspect of the appeal further."

The case was followed by a number of celebrities, who offered their congratulations on Twitter. Al Murray said, "No fresh trial. Doncaster got it wrong. Colossal relief here in court. Short and sweet." Stephen Fry wrote, "complete vindication and victory for Paul Chambers in #twitterjoketrial."

Loz Kaye, leader of the Pirate Party UK said, "I am happy that this long running nightmare is over for Paul. But this case should never have gone this far, it has been a huge waste of police and court time. Today's verdict is a win for common sense as much as freedom of speech.

"Despite finally arriving at this positive result, the chilling effect on freedom of expression remains. It is time to support free speech and review the Communications Act. The law is clearly broken when a person can be jailed for light-hearted comments on social media."